Chapter 1
'I love you Geet. I always will.' She woke up with a jolt sweating and beautifully disheveled. That dream again. He haunted her dreams and plagued her days. She watched cautiously with her brown large eyes around the room and saw the pictures of her love. She smiled. Although it was deep in the night, a steady light flowed in the room. The moonlight. She saw her computer near the huge window which she had left open for the night. Wind blew in and her messy brown hair flew all over. She went to the connecting room to see her love.
She thought love happened only once. It took her to fall in love again to realize that statement was untrue. She was very much in love; with her son. He was sleeping with a sweet look on his face. Kunal looked so like him. She closed her eyes and clutched herself remembering him; the hazel eyes and the dark hair that she died to put her hands on. Kunal had his look; the same hazel eyes and that height. Geet was a small woman of height of 5'2 and he had been 6'2. Her son's height was stretching like his. Kunal had the dark hair he had. Every bit of Kunal reminded her of him. And now her baby was sleeping peacefully with the moonlight streaming on his face. He looked very much like the angel he was. Her angel.
Once she was satisfied, she left his room quietly and sneaked back in bed. She sighed. She would never be able to put him out of her mind. She fell back asleep as quickly dreaming about him again.
It was six o'clock in the morning and the birds had already begun chirping. Geet woke up with a smile. The smile was there because she did not remember the dream or what happened at night. She tied a pony tail and went for a quick shower. Her mother Rano was up and about getting ready too. Geet looked very much like her mother Rano who had a petite build as well and was just as beautiful as she was three decades ago.
Geet then woke her Kunal up and got him ready. They then went downstairs to the prayer room and all sang Arti together. Kunal sang with such enthusiasm that Geet smiled over his head and remembered him.
They all had breakfast and Kunal had his usual tantrums. 'Mama, I don't want cereal today, please make me toast!'
Geet sighed in frustration. 'Kunal, just five minutes ago you had asked for cereal!'
'I know mama but now I want toast.' He pouted and Geet did not have the heart to refuse her only son. Who could be able to refuse when Kunal employed that look? 'OK, but no change of mind again, OK!'
'OK mama,' he chirped happily about his and Geet's birthday which was tomorrow. 'Mama, I'm so excited! We can go for a picnic tomorrow! You can get an off from work yah?'
Rano then spoke, 'When there's mama who needs a nani, right?'
'No nani! Obviously we'll be going together and have fun! I do love you nani and you know that nani!'
'Yes, yes, I do. I was just pulling your leg!' With that, all of them laughed since this was Kunal's favorite phrase. He couldn't understand how this phrase came into being when one's leg was not even involved in anything! 'Yes baba,' Geet said, 'I've got a break from work tomorrow but you know if there's any emergency I'll be called back.'
'Yes I know Dr. Geet Handa!' As soon as he was done with breakfast, his school bus arrived and he ran to his mom and hugged her with a huge, noisy kiss on her cheek. In turn, Geet gave her son a loud, sloppy kiss too. He then turned to his nani and touched her feet and ran off to the bus.
Then Rano started, 'Geet beta, I'm so proud of what you've done to Kunal. He's such a sweetheart. I guess we have faced similar cirumstances in life, haven't we?'
'Yes mom. I never got my father's name and neither will he.'
Nisha
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